Why the James Comey episode cannot be compared to the Watergate Scandal

[yt_dropcap type=”square” font=”” size=”14″ color=”#000″ background=”#fff” ] L [/yt_dropcap]ast week, the ex FBI Director James Comey was fired by Donald Trump. Unanimously, Trump has been criticized for this action. Trump gave the reason as James Comey’s handling of the Hillary Clinton emails episode. Critics have questioned the reasons and the timing of the decision.

There are a few aspects to the Comey firing. One is that clearly the reasons that Trump gave – saying that it is Comey’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email episode which is the reason behind the firing are laughable. It is obvious that the real reason is Comey’s request for the investigation into Russian ties with the Trump campaign to be expanded. Did Trump go about the entire process in a proper manner? Absolutely not !!!

In fact, James Comey did not have a single clue about what was going to happen to him. He was speaking to FBI employees on May 9 when the announcement was done on Television. Initially he commented saying that it was a fairly funny prank. Only later did he get to realize the truth. That is not the way in which any person, leave alone a Director of the FBI, ought to lose his job. As American comedian and political commentator Bill Maher noted, all that Trump needed to do was to pick up the phone and speak to James Comey and inform him about what was being done. How difficult was that?

Now to the question was his firing right? The answer is that James Comey set himself up for the firing to be done. This was done by his highly unnecessary request of asking for an expansion of resources for the Russian investigation into Trump campaign ties. Already the mainstream media and the Democratic Party are going haywire with allegations of Russia’s links to Trump. What was the need for asking for extra resources when the present ‘2 cents worth’ investigation, by itself, could not find anything credible? Comparisions are being made of the Comey affair with the Watergate scandal. The Comey episode is no Watergate Scandal and will not lead to a Trump impeachment – the one that many people so desperately want !!!

Let’s move over to the Watergate scandal briefly. On June 17, 1972, several burglars were arrested inside the office of the DNC in Washington DC. The burglars were connected to Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign. The prowlers had been caught while attempting to wiretap phones and steal secret documents. In August of that year, Nixon gave a speech where he swore that his White House staff was not involved in the break-in. Nixon was reelected in a landslide victory in the November elections. It later came to light that a few days after the break-in, he arranged to provide huge cash as “hush money” to the burglars. Then he and his aides hatched a plan to instruct the Central Intelligence Agency to impede the FBI’s investigation of the crime.

Nixon also secretly taped every conversation that took place in the Oval office. When Archibald Cox, who was the independent special prosecutor, kept demanding the tapes, Nixon fired him. These events took place on October 20 1973 and were known as the Saturday Night Massacre. Comparisions are made of Nixon’s firing of Archibald Cox and Trump’s firing of James Comey with the James Comey firing being called the Tuesday Night Massacre.

Neither is the James Comey firing comparable to the Archibald Cox firing nor is the Watergate Scandal comparable with the ‘so-called’ scandal that is happening here. In the Watergate scandal, following the June 17 episode, a lot of facts were unearthed. On August 1, a US $ 25,000 cheque was wound up in the bank account of a Watergate burglar. On January 30 1973, two former Nixon aides were convicted of burglary, conspiracy and wiretapping. On April 30, Nixon’s top White House staffers resigned over the scandal.

Nothing of that sort has happened or is likely to happen here. Even the former NSA Mike Flynn had to resign not because he had any involvement in the hacking of the DNC. If he had just simply told Mike Pence that he did discuss the issue of sanctions on Russia with the Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, he would have stayed. In any case, there are a substantial number of people, even in the West, who feel that the sanctions on Russia over Ukraine/Crimea should be removed without any delay.

When Russia hacked into the DNC, there was already a cloud hanging over the Democratic Party due to the Hillary Clinton email episode. Against this background, Trump also called upon Russia publicly to hack into Clinton’s emails. Even though this issue of allegations of Russian hacking had been going on throughout the election campaign process, Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party referred to the issue only when they were posed uncomfortable questions. One example is the question about Clinton’s open borders comment. She used the Russian interference to pivot from the question.

Also it should be noted that the Russians were clever enough to ensure they brought into light only the internal manipulations that took place in the closed doors of the Democratic Party. They did not misuse the information that they had access to. That is one important reason why the investigation into Russian ties with the Trump campaign will not be a cracker but only a flower-pot !!!

Finally, Trump has distanced himself from Steve Bannon, his Chief Strategist. While it is true that Steve Bannon needs to moderate himself, chucking a person like Bannon away totally would not be doing Trump any good. For example there are reports which say that Steve Bannon was opposed to the recent airstrike on Syria but was overruled by Jarod Kushner. It at all he has any dreams of a second term Presidency, Donald Trump would do well to remember that Jarod Kushner and Ivanka Trump are not going to win him the votes. Rather it would be people like Steve Bannon who will do so!! In fact, Steve Bannon could well play the same role for Trump that Amit Shah manages to do so effectively for Narendra Modi.

Of course there is one difference. Narendra Modi is single while Donald Trump is not. It is an esoteric fact that a single person can think more clearly than a married one. If only more people had realized that yesterday, mother earth would be better off today…

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Harish Venugopalan is a Research Assistant with the Observer Research Foundation. He has done his Masters in International Relations from the Dublin City University (DCU) in 2011-2012. His current research interest is ‘Conflict Management in Africa’.

On August 24th, a court-filing by Kellen S. Dwyer, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Alexandria Division of the Eastern District of Virginia, stated: “Due to the sophistication of the defendant and the publicity surrounding the case, no other procedure [than sealing the case, hiding it from the public] is likely to keep confidential the fact that Assange has been charged. … This motion and the proposed order would need to remain sealed until Assange is arrested in connection with the charges in the criminal complaint and can therefore no longer evade or avoid arrest and extradition in this matter.” That filing was discovered by Seamus Hughes, a terrorism expert at the Program on Extremism at George Washington University. On November 15th, he posted an excerpt of it on Twitter, just hours after the Wall Street Journal had reported on the same day that the Justice Department was preparing to prosecute Assange. However, now that we know “the fact that Assange has been charged” and that the U.S. Government is simply waiting “until Assange is arrested in connection with the charges in the criminal complaint and can therefore no longer evade or avoid arrest and extradition in this matter,” it is clear and public that the arrangements which were secretly made between Trump’s agent Pence and the current President of Ecuador are expected to deliver Assange into U.S. custody for criminal prosecution, if Assange doesn’t die at the Ecuadorean Embassy first.

On November 3rd (which, of course, preceded the disclosures on November 15th), Julian Assange’s mother, Christine Ann Hawkins, described in detail what has happened to her son since the time of Pence’s meeting with Ecuador’s President. She said: “He is, right now, alone, sick, in pain, silenced in solitary confinement, cut off from all contact, and being tortured in the heart of London. … He has been detained nearly eight years, without trial, without charge. For the past six years, the UK Government has refused his requests to exit for basic health needs, … [even for] vitamin D. … As a result, his health has seriously deteriorated. … A slow and cruel assassination is taking place before our very eyes. … They will stop at nothing. … When U.S. Vice President Mike Pence recently visited Ecuador, a deal was done to hand Julian over to the U.S. He said that because the political cost of expelling Julian from the Embassy was too high, the plan was to break him down mentally… to such a point that he will break and be forced to leave. … The extradition warrant is held in secret, four prosecutors but no defense, and no judge, … without a prima-facie case. [Under the U.S. system, the result nonetheless can be] indefinite detention without trial. Julian could be held in Guantanamo Bay and tortured, sentenced to 45 years in a maximum security prison, or face the death penalty,” for “espionage,” in such secret proceedings.

Her phrase, “because the political cost of expelling Julian from the Embassy was too high” refers to the worry that this new President of Ecuador has, of his cooperating with the U.S. regime’s demands and thereby basically ceding sovereignty to those foreigners (the rulers of the U.S.), regarding the Ecuadorian citizen, Assange.

This conservative new President of Ecuador, who has replaced the progressive President who had granted Assange protection, is obviously doing all that he can to comply with U.S. President Trump and the U.S. Congress’s demand for Assange either to die soon inside the Embassy or else be transferred to the U.S. and basically just disappear, at Guantanamo or elsewhere. Ecuador’s President wants to do this in such a way that Ecuador’s voters won’t blame him for it, and that he’ll thus be able to be re-elected. This is the type of deal he apparently has reached with Trump’s agent, Pence. It’s all secret, but the evidence on this much of what was secretly agreed-to seems clear. There are likely other details of the agreement that cannot, as yet, be conclusively inferred from the subsequent events, but this much can.

Basically, Trump has arranged for Assange to be eliminated either by illness that’s imposed by his Ecuadorean agent, or else by Assange’s own suicide resulting from that “torture,” or else by America’s own criminal-justice system. If this elimination happens inside the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, then that would be optimal for America’s President and Congress; but, if it instead happens on U.S. soil, then that would be optimal for Ecuador’s President. Apparently, America’s President thinks that his subjects, the American people, will become sufficiently hostile toward Assange so that even if Assange disappears or is executed inside the United States, this President will be able to retain his supporters. Trump, of course, needs his supporters, but this is a gamble that he has now clearly taken. This much is clear, even though the rest of the secret agreement that was reached between Pence and Ecuador’s President is not.

Scooter Libby, who had arranged for the smearing of Valerie Plame who had tried to prevent the illegal and deceit-based 2003 invasion of Iraq, was sentenced to 30 months but never spent even a day in prison, and U.S. President Trump finally went so far as to grant him a complete pardon, on 13 April 2018. (The carefully researched docudrama “Fair Game” covered well the Plame-incident.) Libby had overseen the career-destruction of a courageous CIA agent, Plame, who had done the right thing and gotten fired for it; and Trump pardoned Libby, thus retroactively endorsing the lie-based invasion of Iraq in 2003. By contrast, Trump is determined to get Julian Assange killed or otherwise eliminated, and even Democrats in Congress are pushing for him to get that done. The new President of Ecuador is doing their bidding. Without pressure from the U.S. Government, Assange would already be a free man. Thus, either Assange will die (be murdered) soon inside the Embassy, or else he will disappear and be smeared in the press under U.S. control. And, of course, this is being done in such a way that no one will be prosecuted for the murder or false-imprisonment. Trump had promised to “clean the swamp,” but as soon as he was elected, he abandoned that pretense; and, as President, he has been bipartisan on that matter, to hide the crimes of the bipartisan U.S. Government, and he is remarkably similar in policy to his immediate predecessors, whom he had severely criticized while he was running for the Presidency.

In any event, the destruction of Assange has clearly been arranged for, at the highest levels of the U.S. Government, just as the destruction of Jamal Khashoggi was by Saudi Arabia’s Government; and, just like in Khashoggi’s case, the nation’s ruler controls the prosecutors and can therefore do whatever he chooses to do that the rest of the nation’s aristocracy consider to be acceptable.

The assault against truth isn’t only against Assange, but it is instead also closing down many of the best, most courageous, independent news sites, such as washingtonsblog. However, in Assange’s case, the penalty for having a firm commitment to truth has been especially excruciating and will almost certainly end in his premature death. This is simply the reality. Because of the system under which we live, a 100% commitment to truth is now a clear pathway to oblivion. Assange is experiencing this reality to the fullest. That’s what’s happening here.

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Quiet Does Not Flow This Don: A Week Of the ‘Pathetic Inadequate’

That the current U.S. president places a premium on loyalty has been evident from the start — loyalty not to the institutions of government and their legal functions but loyalty to the boss. Former FBI director James Comey cannot forget a certain memory of Donald Trump’s style recalling for him something familiar. It took him back to the days when he was investigating the Mafia. The boss was the dominant center: the loyalty oaths, serving the boss, the family first … as in this White House, not emphasizing what is right for the country.

It explains some of what happened this week. In Paris, Mr. Trump was pilloried for foregoing a visit to a First World War cemetery (where Americans are also interred) to pay his respects to the fallen. He explained it was raining. The outpouring of criticism included Nicolas Soames, Churchill’s grandson and a Member of Parliament, who labeled Trump “that pathetic inadequate.”

Trump’s tweeting attack on his host, French President Emmanuel Macron, began almost immediately, focusing on his proposal for a European army, his brand of nationalism, even his low poll ratings. French government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux in response noted November 13 as the day of the 2015 attacks when 130 died in suicide bombings and mass shootings, adding Trump’s attacks on the same day lacked “common decency.”

Mrs. Trump had her own cavils. She wanted Mira Ricardel, Deputy National Security Adviser, fired according to news reports because she was upset by the seat allocations on the plane during her Africa trip and also because she ascribed negative leaks to her. Mrs. Ricardel in her seven months at the White House developed a reputation for such leaks as well as of a strong personality tending not to suffer fools gladly. She has been moved to pastures as yet unknown — not fired because anti-Iran policy architect John Bolton the National Security Adviser hired her as his top aide. Mrs. Trump appears also to be overcome by the miasma of loyalty and who one can trust or otherwise.

But why has Donald Trump soured on his erstwhile friend Emmanuel Macron. It is true the French leader’s response to Mr. Trump’s ‘America First’ mantra has been to advocate multilateralism but his words were sharper in Paris this time when he stated, “Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism.” He didn’t stop there.

Responding to Trump’s repeated shaming of Europeans to increase contributions to NATO, he has called for a ‘true European army’ in an interview with France’s Europe 1 radio, adding when Trump abandons “a major disarmament treaty” that resulted from “the 1980s Euro-missile crisis … who is the main victim? Europe and its security.” Later he added that Europe’s increased defense expenditures should be with European manufacturers if Europe is to be self-sustaining and truly sovereign.

The stakes are high. Should the plan fail, Iran might well decide to build a nuclear weapon. Will Saudi Arabia perceive it as a threat? Will Israel launch preemptive strikes? Will the U.S. join them? These are unsettling questions.

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Donald Trump and America’s People

The American mid-term elections in the current situation can be considered one of the most sensitive elections in American history; the unusual character and Donald Trump’s extreme actions at the level of domestic and foreign policy have led the American community to more bipartisan and bipartisan competition than ever before. And in the upcoming election, the Democrats are trying to prevent the victory of the Republicans in any way possible and to control Donald Trump’s extremists through the congressional congress.

The division of the American political community into the scene of the opponents and proponents of Trump

What distinguishes Congressional elections from the last election is the division of American society into the bipartisan opponents and supporters of Donald Trump in this election. In fact, in the new situation, the rivalry of the two main US parties has become more or less a controversial scene based on opposition or alignment with the Trump, rather than on the basis of traditional competition between the two parties. This led to a less pronounced party and rivalry between the two political currents, but the critique of the actions and the character of Donald Trump were centered on Democrats.

In support of this, former US President Barack Obama’s remarks can be seen after two years of silence against his tangled attacks. Obama’s Democrats ‘Democrats’ campaign, and with several releases, has directly targeted Donald Trump. Obama says in his most remarkable remarks: “We are witnessing unprecedented behaviors in the White House, which has violated custom and common habits among Democrats and Republicans. If you are young voters worried about what happened over the past two years at the White House, the only way to monitor this behavior is to have congresses and positions that are emerging for the values and ideals of the United States. “In another move, he released a video message asking the youth to participate in November’s mid-term elections. Obama also said in a speech at the University of Illinois with a direct attack on the White House chairman: “The Trump is a disease itself, not a sign, and now we have the chance to bring wisdom back to the political scene of the country.”

In addition, the bipolar society of Donald Trump’s opponents and opponents is now in a position that some political experts talk about the possibility of a civil war in the United States. In the same vein, Professor Nil Ferguson, a professor at Harvard University, says: “Lately, internal disputes in the United States are intensifying and cultural conflicts are proud. On the Internet, there has long been a kind of civil war in the United States, and this war is getting hotter as the congressional election approaches. Sending a bomb to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will pave the ground for predicting the civil war in the United States. “Also, Emily Wylan, a science fiction candidate from the University of Texas in an article comparing the civil war in Lebanon and the United States, pointed out that Jonathan Randall had not paid attention to it in his time. “There is a common ground between Lebanon in 1975 and the United States in 2018,” he wrote. Washington believes that Washington has powerful and uncompromising allies that have their own interests and are, in fact, an “ineffective cartoon state”. Meanwhile, the Republican Party of America reminds Lebanon’s conservative forces on the brink of civil war, and Democrats, like the Lebanese advanced parties, are decentralized and dispersed. ”

The November 6 decisive election

In spite of the apparent political divide and political divide within the political community of America between its two main parties, Republicans and Democrats, on the axis of the problem called “Trumpism,” prominent members of the Democratic Party or supporters of the Democratic Party in all electoral campaigns, and sometimes even prominent American figures of art Opponents of Trump have emphasized the decisive importance of the inter-period election and the need for its participation, and since November 6th, it has been remembered as a historic moment to restore rationality to the American political scene.

Indeed, mid-term congressional elections are important for Democrats, which if they win, the two final years of the presidency of Donald Trump can turn into a nightmare and a nightmare for him and his government members until the 2020 election. The symbol of this can be seen in 2014, as a result of the Republican victory in the inter-congressional election, a large level of tensions between the Obama administration and the congress was formed, and even the level of conflict was so advanced that, at a time when President Barack Obama was forced to The federal government closed its 16th day.

Now, if Democrats win the mid-term election, they are considered vital for three reasons. On the first level, if the Democrats win the congress and take over the majority, they can stop most of the Trump government’s approvals that they argue against US national interests. On the second level, a Democratic majority congress can provide grounds for plotting against Donald Trump for engaging in several issues, such as secret relations with Russia, illegal sexual relations and lying. In the event of approval of the problem in the House of Representatives and bringing the matter to the Senate, the Democrats can still be successful in raising the maximum pressure and stopping Trump in his most recent extremism. The third dimension, the decisive outcome of the November 6 Congressional election for Democrats, is that they will create a psychological environment for a grand victory against Trump in the presidential election of 2020, if they win in the recent election. Political facts in American history indicate that victory in inter-parliamentary elections has always had a serious and massive impact on the election of the next American president in the next two years.

The congressional election meets the general satisfaction of Trump

In the midst of the turbulent state of the mid-term elections in the United States, Donald Trump’s premature runaway escapes from accepting Republican defeats. According to the results of the polls, the Republicans’ defeat to a certain extent seems to be necessary; as a result, Donald Trump as a senior Republican party can be the first factor in this defeat; in other words, early election results for measuring public policy satisfaction He will be in the past two years.

In the analysis of the disappointment of the Republicans and the Trump on the victory over the inter-congressional elections, it is possible to look at Trump’s performance at two levels of domestic politics and foreign policy. On the one hand, at the internal level, Trump faces numerous problems at the individual and moral levels, and his moral scandals, economic activities, and his relations with the Russians during the electoral campaign have reduced American confidence and, on the other hand, his domestic policies It is mostly based on racism and even fascism; it has placed non-white Americans in front of him. Meanwhile, immigration policies, his opposition to the colorful people, as well as Trump’s opposition to the general insurance plan introducing Obamawalker, have created a backdrop of dissent and disgust of American citizens from Trump.

At the foreign policy level, Trump’s catastrophic performance in partnering with traditional US allies and his efforts to get close to Russia has put a lot of criticism into the White House’s performance. In fact, Trump has frustrated US voters by importing America into a war of commerce with all the world powers, including China, Russia and even European countries as traditional allies. Also, Trump’s action in support of the Yemeni war that killed thousands of innocent people, and in particular the silence in the savage murder case, the Saudi-critic’s journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, has disappointed the Republican Party’s supporters of the Trump performance. Taken together, these two levels can be said that Donald Trump’s two-year performance at the domestic and foreign levels has turned into Republican Achilles heels in the mid-term elections.